GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— After opening their season with three road games in Florida, the Colorado Mesa University women's lacrosse team has returned home and will take on Missouri Western State on Sunday at 11 a.m. to open up a 3-game homestand over eight days.
 
The visiting Griffons will also play Westminster and Fort Lewis in neutral site games that CMU will host at Community Hospital Unity Field this Friday (Feb. 20) and next Tuesday (Feb. 24).
 
Tickets for the Mavs' game are on sale here.  Admission is free for the neutral site games.
 
All three games will be streamed, accessible with a subscription to the RMAC Network (more information below).

Live statistics for all three games can be accessed here.
 
Last Times Out
 
The Mavericks had a challenging start to the 2026 campaign, facing three nationally-ranked foes during a road swing through Florida last week.
 
On Tuesday (Mar. 10), the Mavs fell 17-7 at tenth-ranked Saint Leo as Kaylee Kittle led the Mavericks with a career-high four goals and her first career hat trick.
 
They then made their way to Winter Park, where they played No. 19 Rollins, which defeated the Mavs, 12-9 last Friday (Mar. 13).  Kittle had three goals and her second hat trick of the week. Olivia Turk also matched her career-high with five caused turnovers against the Tars.
 
The Mavs then headed south to face No. 11 ranked Lynn, which came from 8-7 down at the half to win 15-9 this past Sunday (Mar. 15).  Carson Dickey matched her career high with six goals in that game.
 
Friendly Home Schedule
 
The Mavs are slated to play eight home games this season, including their three upcoming non-conference bouts.  They will then begin their Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference slate at home on Mar. 15 against UCCS.
 
The Mavs also played eight home games in 2025, going 5-3 in those.  However, two of those came in the postseason as the Mavs hosted the RMAC Tournament for the first time in program history.
 
The Mavs also played eight home games in 2019 and 2022 but have not played any more than that since 2017, when they played ten home games while going 7-3.
 
The Mavs have posted a winning home record in 11 straight seasons from 2015-25 and have gone a combined 58-18 at home in that time, good for a .757 winning percentage.
 
Sophomore Surge
 
After scoring just one goal on her lone shot in nine appearances as a reserve player during her freshman year, Maverick sophomore attack Kaylee Kittle got off to a hot start as a sophomore last week in Florida, leading the Mavs with nine total goals throughout the week.  She scored two or more goals in all three games, tallying her first two hat tricks of her career against Saint Leo and Rollins.
 
The Sacramento, California native also led the Mavs with 12 shots on goal and was second on the team with six draw controls and third on the team with five ground balls throughout the week.

Debut Scorers
 
Maverick freshman Tessa Pearson and transfer Evelynn Vissari both scored goals on their first road trips as Mavericks.  Pearson, who hails from Temecula, California, scored in the season-opener at Saint Leo and also added a goal against Lynn.  She also had an assist in the game against Lynn and at Rollins and recorded an offensive point in all three.
 
Vissari is a senior, who played at Limestone College in South Carolina, for the past three years, where she scored 14 times for the Saints before the college closed its doors at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.  The Butler, Pennsylvania native scored for the Mavs against Rollins.
 
Helper Havel
 
Courtney Havel, who led the Mavericks with 46 goals a year ago en route to RMAC Attacker of the Year honors, was held without a goal during the Mavs' trip to Florida.  However, the senior from Lake Oswego, Oregon did led the Mavs with four assists throughout the trip.
 
Regional Play Begins
 
This weekend's game against Missouri Western State will open up the Mavs' slate of Midwest Region games.  Thirteen of the Mavs'  14 remaining regular season games plus any games they play in the RMAC Tournament will be against teams from the region as the Mavs will try to build their resume for one of six available spots from the region in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Three of those spots will be handed out automatically to the tournament champions from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) and CMU's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.  The other three will be handed out at-large to members of those three conferences and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) which does not have automatic bid because they only have five women's lacrosse playing institutions.
 
Missouri Western plays out of the GLVC for women's lacrosse.
 
The Mavs fell just short of a bid last year, going 1-2 against non-conference opponents from the Midwest Region last year.  They were in the No. 6 spot of the final regional rankings a year ago but were bumped out by the GMAC Tournament Champion Ashland Eagles, who took that spot away with the automatic qualification spot.
 
All four of their regional losses from a year ago came to teams that were selected, which illustrates the importance of these early head-to-head matchups.
 
Coach's Corner
 
Ashley Delaney is in her third year as the Mavs' head coach and her seventh on the CMU staff after serving as an assistant for the four previous seasons from 2020-23.
 
The Mavs have gone 11-6 in both of Delaney's previous years as a head coach and posted a 33-19 combined record in her four years as an assistant under two previous head coaches. 
She was named as the RMAC Coach of the Year in 2025 after leading the Mavs to a share of the RMAC Regular Season Championship and to hosting rights of the RMAC Tournament for the first time in program history.
 
She also helped the Mavs win a share of the RMAC crown in 2023 when she was an assistant coach.  The Mavericks are a combined 55-31 with her on the coaching staff and have played in all five RMAC Tournament Championship games with her on the staff.
 
Counting this year, Delaney now has a 22-15 record as the Mavs' head coach.
 
She and the Mavs are 1-0 against Missouri Western State, having won last year's match up in St. Joseph, Missouri, 15-12.
 
Know Your Foe
 
Missouri Western State hails from the St. Joseph, Missouri, north of Kansas City and hosts the Kansas City Chiefs' training camp in its' Griffon Indoor Sports Complex, which is the indoor training facility and periodic game facility for the Griffon lacrosse team.
 
The Griffons founded their women's lacrosse program in 2021 and are beginning their fifth season under the direction of Head Coach Jessica Berg, who has guided the Griffons to winning records in each of the past three years after going 8-9 in 2022 as the program's interim head coach.
 
This year's squad is off to a 1-0 start after drubbing William Jewell by a 17-4 score in the Kansas City suburb of Liberty last Friday.
 
Nine different Griffons scored as six tallied two or more goals.  Madi Brinkman and Caetryn Gilreath both scored three.  Gilreath is a returning Second Team All-GLVC selection from a year ago and co-led the Griffins with 51 goals a year ago.
 
The Griffons were picked fourth out of eight teams in the GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll after they went 9-8 overall and 4-3 in GLVC play last year.
 
Colorado Connections
 
Griffon Head Coach Jessica Berg is a native of Colorado Springs and spent three seasons of her collegiate playing career at Regis University in Denver, where she was named as the 2021 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Midfielder of the Year.  A year later, she was the interim head coach at Missouri Western.
 
She has used her connections and has seven players on her current roster, who hail from Colorado's front range.
 
The Griffons' three games in Grand Junction will be on what is their first ever trip to Western Colorado.  It is a return trip after the Mavs visited Missouri to face Rockhurst and the Griffons at the start of the 2025 campaign.
 
Re-Match
 
The Mavs and Griffons met for the first time last year on Feb. 16 in an indoor game.  The Mavs won the game 15-12 after leading 15-6 heading into the fourth quarter.  Five of the six Mavericks who scored goals in that victory are on the 2026 roster, all of whom scored twice against the Griffons.
 
To view the complete game recap and statistics of the 2025 game, please click here.
 
RMAC Network News
 
All of the Mavs' home and RMAC road games, will be streamed on the RMAC Network, which has moved to a pay-per-view model for the 2025-26 season.  This season, all RMAC athletic events broadcast by its 15 full-member institutions and associate members will only be available for purchase via a single-game pass or a monthly or annual subscription. Revenue generated by the network will be redistributed to the league's membership to enhance their programs.
 
RMAC fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them with access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $10, which grants access to a single game for 24 hours.
 
Additionally, a discounted annual subscription price will be available to students, faculty, and staff of each member institution throughout the year. Purchasing options and pricing for individual RMAC Championships will be announced closer to each event.
 
Colorado Mesa turns 100
 
The CMU Century Celebration stands as the cornerstone of Colorado Mesa University's year-long centennial celebration. This ambitious initiative unites our community in honoring a rich heritage while boldly envisioning the next hundred years of academic excellence.

Led by the Steering Committee and six specialized sub-committees, we're orchestrating a transformative experience that will resonate through generations. Each committee brings unique expertise to create an unforgettable commemoration of our past, present and future.
 
To learn more about Colorado Mesa's 100-year celebration, visit cmucentury.com.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will remain at home for two more non-conference games.  They will take on Florida Tech, ranked 21^st nationally next Saturday (Feb. 28) at Noon before hosting Northern Michigan on Monday, Mar. 2 at 4 p.m.